Uncertain Times
by Light Flame Blast
Summary: Heroes have doubts. Heroes have fears. Heroes have nightmares. Sometimes, heroes need heroes themselves.


_"W-wait! No! Please, let me...l-let me go!_ " _Kirby exclaimed with panicked sobs as he backed off into the dome shaped walls of his house,_ _eyes large as apples while his breathing picked up. They were all close now, glaring into his soul with all those eyes, filled with nothing but anger and bitterness. There were too many of them to be counted, hordes and hordes of monsters and creatures he had beaten or destroyed in the past, all back for another go at taking him down. Kirby couldn't hope to identify every monster stalking him, but several shapes stood_ _out._

 _Hundreds of Dark Matter entities were infiltrated between the hordes, shifting, glaring, waiting for a moment to strike. Magolor floated ahead of them, that horrid eye glaring at the pink puff from within his permanent smirk as the corrupted wizard made his way closer. Right over him, Zero, Dark Mind, Nightmare and Necrodeus formed a losangle while slowly making their way to corner Kirby in his house, the pure hatred emanating from the chaotic entities almost enough to be physically felt._ _The winged shapes of Marx and Sectonia_ _flew in circles firther above like vultures, their maniac cackling clearly making their way through the noise and to the terrified ears of Kirby. Up in the sky, far away from them, the colossal figure of Star Dream flashed its eyes like beacons down at the hill, creating an ominous glare coming from the controlled Nova._

 _Kirby could only stare in absolute fear and shock as the thousands of monsters marched closer, effectively cornering him. The pink puff desperately hopped atop of his short house in a pathetic attempt to create a line of safety between his enemies and himself, but he knew that wouldn't be enough. The pink puff couldn't hope to inhale so many creatures, and the entities in the sky prevented him from floating away or summoning his trusted Warp Star. His allies had all fallen, victims to the combined efforts of the biggest evils Kirby had faced._

 _Dedede had been the first. The usually cowardly and selfish king stood his ground to defend his castle and kingdom from the invaders, but was soon overwhelmed and killed alongside the always loyal and brave Bandana Dee, who stood beside his king to the bitter end. Everyone else who was in the castle during the attack was crushed by debris when it was brought down._

 _Meta Knight fought valiantly against the dark forces, but not even the powerful Halberd could stand a chance against the enemy. The battleship exploded in the sky during the battle, and the knight and his crew didn't have the time to escape._

 _The others went down one by one from that point on. Gooey, Adeleine, Ribbon, the Animal Friends, Dyna Blade,many others. None of those were capable of resisting. Kirby was all on his own now. For the first time in his short and eventful life, he was overwhelmed._

 _"G-GO AWAY!" He cried, voice cracking as the first enemies started climbing towards him. He tried to inhale them to get an ability, anything that could help, but he just couldn't get himself to create the usual vacuum effect. He resorted to kicking towards his enemies in a desperate attempt at survival, but it backfired quickly. His feet were gripped by a Burning Leo_ _and yanked down into the masses, forcing the pink puff into the vicious arms of the monsters. "N-NO!"_

 _Kirby fought and struggled as he was passed on from arm to arm, each making sure to grip, bite or hit him to hurt the hero of Dream Land in some way before passing their turn. The pink puff could only wail helplessly while the sea of monsters forced him close to the apparent leaders, all glaring furiously down at him from their airbone positions._

 _"Finally...here you are." Nightmare said cordially, a wicked smirk on his face._

 _"Vengeance at last." The mouthless, booming voice of Zero echoed as the Dark Matter lord's single eye narrowed to a slit._

 _"It's time to di-i-i-e!" Marx sung from above, cackling madly._

 _"N-NO! PLEASE!" Kirby pleaded with panicked eyes as he desperately tried to inhale his captors, clinging to any possible hope, but he again couldn't do it._

 _Just then, a spherical figure showed up in the sky, hovering down between the entities to stare down at Kirby, and that sight made his heart freeze in fear. The cold, disturbingly similar to his own face of Void Termina studied the pink puff and basked on the situation for some moments, floating closer and closer to the hero, before it was right above Kirby, opening a little smile._

 _"Child." It said quietly._

 _And then it opened up to reveal its Dark Matter form, screeching._

* * *

Kirby woke up with a terrified scream, jumping up from his bed and collapsing on the floor as he shivered violently, panting. He looked around with frantic eyes to look for Void Termina and its horrifying glare of death, but couldn't find anything in the dark. Too dark. Was it a nightmare?

The pink puff stood up with wobbling legs, barely able to reach his nightstand and switch his lights on. The house was illuminated, revealing no gods of destruction or dark creatures lurking in the corners. Kirby looked outside. No hordes of monsters.

"Phew...just a nightmare..."

The pink puff jumped back on his bed, trying to control his breathing. That was a freaky nightmare. And with Nightmare in it, nonetheless. The worst he had had in a while. He found himself shivering again, eyes darting to each and every darker corner of his little house as memories from the dream lingered in his mind. All his worst enemies, some of whom were today his friends, all together against him... Kirby knew most of them had been destroyed during his battles with them, but he couldn't help fearing that possibility.

Worse, the possibility of his friends getting attacked during this chaos. He shivered as he remembered the sight of Dedede's castle in ruins and Meta's ship exploding. He couldn't let it happen to his friends, no way. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if it happened.

Unable to sleep, Kirby sighed and hopped off of his bed to go outside. The sun hadn't risen yet, and the contact with the chilly night air made his sweaty body shiver, so he brought a blanket along. The pink puff floated atop of his house and snuggled into the blanket there, staring off into the sleeping Dream Land. Dedede's castle was still proudly standing on its hill, Dedede probably snoring loudly and Bandana hopefully sleeping in a far away room. Kirby could faintly identify Adeleine's house in the valley below, and he knew she was fine.

Would they always be safe?

Popstar had been attacked several times in the last few years, and so far the pink puff had been able to defeat each and evey threat, alone or aided by powerful allies or special copy abilities. So far, he hadn't failed. But what if... what if someday he was taken down and nobody could protect the planet? What if he was captured or killed?

Dream Land was filled with powerful beings, sure. Most of them had given Kirby a run for his money at some point. But by this point it was clear that none of them were invincible.

Kirby liked to think that everything was simple. Bad guy showed up? Follow him, kick his butt, nap time. It had mostly worked so far.

Probably not for much longer, though. Not if the bad guys kept getting stronger and more beastial each time. Void Termina had shown him that. If it weren't for all the friends he made in the way, he wouldn't have made it.

Void Termina, though... he had been dreaming a lot about that thing. Or rather, how freakishly similar it was to himself. Same face, similar voice, some common powers... sure, Kirby had faced enemies with attributes like that, but none had been so... on the nose as the 'Dark Lord' was. Even more disturbing, though, was how its face would switch to Dark Matter.

...

What did that imply about him?

Kirby had always wondered about his origins. Whatever happened in his life before Dream Land was a mystery to himself and everyone else. Could Void Termina be... a hint? A light at the end of the tunnel?

"Huh, I never took you for a night person." A goofy voice suddenly piped up from behind, making Kirby jump and almost fall off the house.

"Who's there?" He asked as he turned around on the spot, only to be met by a pair of innocent, far too apart beady eyes, belonging to a blue blob Kirby had grown to like so much. "Gooey? What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't sleep. Taking a stroll." He said with a goofy smile, sticking his tongue out and slapping it to his head in salutation. Kirby couldn't help but return the gesture, smiling slightly. "Why you awake, Kirb?"

"I...had a nightmare. Pretty freaky one." Kirby sighed, looking up at the moon and shifting to give Gooey space next to him. The Dark Matter blob hopped along and followed the puff's gaze, listening. "I...dreamed about the bad guys I beat before..."

"Zero? Dark Matter?" Gooey said with a concerned tone, frowning slightly as he looked down at Kirby. He had directly aided Kirby against these enemies, and as such had a well justified unease every time they were brought up. Those two being related to him didn't help either. "Were they there?"

"Yup. All of them." Kirby nodded with a sigh, shutting his eyes as he snuggled into the blanket and tried to contain a shiver. "They were all there. Zero, Sectonia... Nightmare, Drawcia, Star Dream, all of them... and all their minions..."

"Bad." Gooey said quietly, nudging his friend softly and frowning at the feeling of sweat. "Uh...what happened?"

"They cornered me. They... they took you all down... and then came to my house." Kirby whispered uneasily, glancing at Gooey and letting the blob come closer. "They held me down and I couldn't do anything."

"But you're so strong." Gooey frowned, tilting his head as he eyed Kirby down. "You beat them before, Kirb, and you've been getting stronger and stronger..."

"Yeah, but... too many, Gooey. Thousands." Kirby threw his arms up in frustration, pursing his lips. "All the bad guys attacking me at once."

"Welp, that gotta be scary." Gooey agreed with a nod, frowning slightly as he looked at his friend. "It messed with you, hm?"

"Yeah... I... I'm scared, Gooey." Kirby whimpered, breaking eye contact and looking up at the moon, gripping the blanket closely. "What if... what if I can't beat them someday?"

"Wha? Kirb, Dream Land has tons of tough guys beside you." Gooey frowned, shifting closer to the pink puff and nudging him. "There's me, Meta, the fluffy friends, the fat penguin... and those two weird mean and nice guys..."

Kirby shuddered a little at the mention of the latter two. Gooey meant Marx and Magolor. Sure, after he defeated them, both had become quite sorry and friendly, but after this nightmare they were bound to cause him shivers. "I guess you're right... but the bad guys keep getting stronger and stronger too."

"And we keep finding ways to stop them." Gooey grinned softly, nuzzling his friend comfortingly. "In the Floralia crisis, we were there, in the Robobot invasion we were there, and we were there just now with the dark hearts."

"And yet, it's always me who goes and beats them." Kirby grumbled, not looking at the Dark Matter blob as he sighed. "In the end, I always have to finish them off... what will happen when I'm not here for whatever reason and another invasion happens?"

"Well... we'll find a way." Gooey said with a movement that could have been a shrug if he had shoulders. "I mean... really, bud, you're just so strong you kick their butts before anyone has a chance to do anything else. You think I wouldn't have raided the robot ship too if there weren't kiddies down here being turned into robots?"

"O-oh?" Kirby perked up, looking curiously at Gooey. He hadn't really thought about that. He was usually alone during his missions, it hadn't occured to him that he might have just been saving the day before somebody came up with a sollution.

Maybe he _was_ too strong.

"Well, uh... that's... comforting." He muttered, nodding slowly as he looked at Gooey, who was smiling at him. He wasn't entirely well, however, and the Dark Matter blob seemed to pick up on that.

"Is that all that's in your mind?" He asked, seeming the read the pink puff's expression. "You're tense."

"Oh, it's just that..." Kirby lowered his tone, shuddering while briefly looking around, as if expecting the piercing eyes of Dark Matter glaring him down. "I... I'm not fully recovered from last time... and Void Termina was in my dream..."

"Void scares you." Gooey observed, watching his friend carefully. Kirby stiffened up a little, and he continued. "He was the strongest."

"Not just that." Kirby mumbled, eyes shut as he took in a deep breath. Truth to be told, Gooey might be just the best person he could talk to about this. He _was_ Dark Matter, after all. He would get it. "You were here in Popstar purifying the people, Gooey, you didn't see it. It... it looked just like me..."

"Uhh... huh." Gooey blinked as he thought over Kirby's words, frowning. "But Kirby... what if it did? Meta looks like you too."

"Gooey...it's...different." Kirby sighed, pouting a bit. He had a point. "I mean... yeah, Meta looks like me... but I don't know _what_ we are! He doesn't either, I think..."

"Think?"

"He... never told me about himself before he arrived at Dream Land. He doesn't like talking about it..."

Gooey mulled over it for a second, before piping up again. "Don't you know where you're from?"

Kirby shook his head, suppressing a sigh at his friend's slow grasping of things. He was used to it. "No, Gooey, I told you that. I... I don't remember much from before I came to Dream Land. My Warp Star sorta dropped me off here and I dunno where it came from..."

"Oh. So..." The Dark Matter blob hummed over Kirby's words, his beady eyes shining as he gazed at his pink friend. "You think... Void might be your... dad?"

"No! Don't say it like that" Kirby protested while shaking his head vehemently, before blinking and settling back down. "Sorry, Gooey. I just... don't want to think of that... _monster_ as a parent. That's too much, no..."

"Uh, sorry... so, uh, maker?" Gooey suggested with an apologetic look, tapping Kirby with his tongue to calm his friend down. The pink puff nodded and patted the blob back.

"Maker... doesn't make it much better." He grumbled. Any association between him and Void Termina made him sick. That thing was made from chaos, anger, sadness, bitterness, bad things. As much as he didn't want to, though, this evil being messed with him. "I'm scared, Gooey, I don't want that. I can't stand that Void Termina might be my... dad, spawner, uncle, be it! I can't be related to that!"

"And why not?" The Dark Matter blob asked quietly, looking at Kirby carefully. He knew he would be stepping on eggs and that his words might not please his friend, but Kirby needed them. Gooey had once neeed them himself. "Kirb, if you came from this Void guy... does it matter?"

"What? _Of course_ it does!" Kirby squealed, staring in shock at Gooey. "Void Termina is... is _bad_ , Gooey! It's done all kinds of bad things everywhere it went to and it has those... those crazies following it around treating it like a god! How can you ask me that?"

"So what if he's bad?" Gooey asked, rocking his body in what could have been a tilt of his head as he eyed Kirby down. "You're nice. You're a hero, Kirb. Where you're from doesn't matter."

Kirby froze up at those words, blinking stupidly as he thought over Gooey's onservation. He had a point, but...was he right? "B-but...what if...what if it rubbed off on me? Void is evil...couldn't I become evil if we were related?"

"You? Nah." Gooey shook vehemently, frowning. "Not you. Meta I'd believe. Penguin too. But you? Pfffft."

"How...can you be so sure?" Kirby asked hesitantly, listening intently.

"Kirb, you used the friend heart thingy with no sweat!" Gooey suddenly smiled, sticking his tongue out and poking the puff's forehead. "You saved us all, you made bad guys buddies, how's that evil?"

Kirby actually giggled at Gooey's tone, smiling slightly as he rubbed his forehead. "I guess you're right..."

"And Kirb...ever since we met you've always been a good friend, helping people, being nice, going all the way to another galaxy just to help a guy you had just met!" Gooey bounced in place as he tapped Kirby again, grinning. "How is that evil at all?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Kirby smiled, sighing softly while patting his friend's head and shifting underneath the blanket.

He then grew serious again. "Hey, Gooey...how...does it feel? To be part of... y'know... Dark Matter."

Gooey's grin faded, but he didn't flinch from the question. After all, he had been asked this several times in the past, and had grown used to it. His origins were no secret to the citizens of Dream Land. "I used to be... scared. Ashamed. It messed with me like it messes with you."

"And how did you get over it?" Kirby asked, looking at his friend with unblinking eyes.

"Friends." The Dark Matter blob said simply, smiling at Kirby. "True friends showed me that... where you come from doesn't matter. You were given life by someone, but you don't need to be like them. I realised that... I am myself. I don't need to be like Zero, because he isn't my boss. He made me, but I don't agree with him. And that's enough."

"I... see." Kirby murmured, eyes wide as he listened to Gooey's wise words. He mulled over them for some minutes, silent, and his friend patiently gave him space. Eventually, he spoke again. "So you're saying that even if Void Termina has a hand in my birth... I won't drift into evil."

"Yeah! C'mon Kirb, you're the goodest person around here. I bet in all of Popstar ." Gooey grinned, bouncing happily to cheer his friend up. "No bad guy is changing that."

Kirby smiled at that, giggling while patting Gooey's head and standing up. "Thanks, Gooey. Hey, y'know Void also took on the form of Dark Matter a few times?"

"Yeah?" Gooey frowned, blinking as he looked curiously at Kirby. "What does that mean?"

"Means that if Void is my maker and is related to Dark Matter, we might be related too." Kirby said with a more upbeat voice, giggling as Gooey's eyes widened like saucers.

"Oh my! We might be bros!" The blob said excitedly, tackling Kirby into a hug as both of them laughed happily, sliding down the house's roof. "Bros, Kirb!"

"Yeah, bros!" Kirby laughed, hugging Gooey tightly before letting the Dark Matter blob down and grinning down at him. "I guess something good can come out of this, hm?"

"Yeah! See? No need to worry." Gooey laughed, bouncing in place for a moment before tapping Kirby's head with his tongue once again. "You're a good person, Kirb. And we're all here to help if you doubt that."

"Thanks, Gooey... I appreciate it." Kirby sighed in relief at his friend's words, smiling as he circled his house and opened the door, before glancing curiously at the blue blob. "Well... I think I'm going back to sleep now, alright? I'm feeling better now."

"Sure, go. I'll be on my way too." Gooey smiled, saluting Kirby with his tongue again and prompting the pink puff to do the same with a giggle. He then took on his flying shape, that he liked to call 'mock matter', and flew off towards the woods, towards his home. "Good night, Kirb!"

"Bye, Gooey! Good night!" Kirby called back, smiling as he shut the door behind himself and walked to his bed, dragging the blanket behind him. The pink puff lay down and made himself comfortable, gazing up at the ceiling for some moments with his mind at ease now.

He had friends. Friends who would fight alongside him, fight _for_ him, and who wouldn't let him down when he needed them. Kirby didn't need to fear for Dream Land or worry about his origins, because there would be always someone there for him.

Kirby lifted his arm and gazed at it for a moment, before tapping into the Friend Heart's powers. The limb let out pink sparkles that briefly illuminated the house, causing the pink puff to smile. Even if the effects were fading away over time, no Void Termina could hope to harness the power of love like he did.

"I'm good. I'm good enough for them, and it doesn't matter where I am from. I'm Kirby from Dream Land." He whispered to himself, slowly letting his eyelids drop shut and snuggling into his warm bed, the relieved smile on his lips never fading away as the pink puff finally drifted into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

 **Well, this is it. This is my first Kirby fic and my first to be focused on the psychological side of characters. It was hard to make Kirby and Gooey stay in-character from what we know about their personalities (...not too much, actually), but I hope I did a good job.**

 **Thank you for reading, please leave your reviews and suggestions :)**


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